4.  The applicant was born in 1969 and lives in Lublin, Poland.
5.  On 4 August 2001 the applicant was arrested by the police.
6.  On 7 August 2001 the Opole Lubelskie District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) ordered that the applicant be detained on remand in view of a reasonable suspicion that he had committed a robbery. The court added that the measure was also justified by the severity of the penalty that might be expected and the need to secure the proper conduct of the proceedings, particularly in the light of the fact that the applicant had previously been convicted.
7.  The applicant appealed against this decision, but on 27 August 2001 the Lublin Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) dismissed the appeal. It reiterated that it was highly probable that the applicant had committed the offences with which he had been charged.
8.  On 8 August 2001 the applicant started a hunger strike. Due to the deterioration of his state of health he was subsequently transferred to the Warsaw Detention Centre.
9.  On 24 October 2001 the applicant was indicted before the District Court on charges of 6 offences of robbery and extortion.
10.  On 29 October 2001 the Opole Lubelskie District Court further prolonged the applicant’s detention. It reiterated the grounds for detention given previously.
11.  On 31 January and 26 April 2002 the applicant’s pre-trial detention was prolonged. Both decisions repeated the same grounds: the reasonable suspicion against the applicant, the severity of the sentence that might be expected and the need to secure the proper conduct of the proceedings.
12.  On 29 July and 29 October 2002 the Opole Lubelskie District Court prolonged the applicant’s detention holding that the grounds previously given were still valid and finding that there was a risk that the applicant, once released, might go into hiding.
13.  On 6 January, 28 April and 30 July 2003 the applicant’s detention was further prolonged by the District Court. The court relied on the same grounds: the reasonable suspicion against the applicant, the severity of the anticipated sentence and the need to secure the proper conduct of the proceedings.
14.  Subsequently, as the length of the applicant’s detention had reached the statutory time-limit of 2 years laid down in Article 263 § 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Kodeks postępowania karnego), the District Court made two application to the Lublin Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) asking for the applicant’s detention to be prolonged beyond that term. On 31 July 2003 and 28 January 2004 the Court of Appeal granted those requests.
15.  The applicant’s appeals and numerous applications for release and release on bail were to no avail.
16.  On 13 April 2004 the Opole Lubelskie District Court gave judgment. The applicant was convicted as charged and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.
17.  The applicant lodged an appeal against this judgment, but on 17 December 2004 the Lublin Regional Court dismissed it.
18.  On an unspecified later date the applicant’s court-appointed lawyer refused to lodge a cassation appeal on his behalf with the Supreme Court as he saw no legal grounds for doing so.
19.  On 7 February 2003 the Registry of the Court sent the applicant an application form and accompanying documents in reply to his first letter to the Court. The envelope in which this letter was delivered to the applicant bears the following stamps: Warsaw Detention Centre, 19 February 2003 (Areszt Śledczy Warszawa, 19 luty 2003); a handwritten note: Opole D[istrict] C[ourt] (S.R. Opole); a stamp: censored, judge (ocenzurowano, sędzia), date, 25.02.[20]03 (data 25.02.03), and an illegible signature. It appears that the letter was delivered to the applicant on 28 February 2003, 9 days after it had been delivered to the Detention Centre.
20.  On 14 April 2003 the Court received the applicant’s application form posted on 3 April 2003, dated, however, 11 March 2003. It appears from the stamp on the envelope that the letter had entered a registry of either detention centre or prosecution service on 12 March 2003. The envelope in which the application form was delivered bears the following stamps: Lublin Appellate Prosecutor’s Office... (Prokuratura Apelacyjna... Lublin), a handwritten note: censored, 2 [April] 2003 (cenzurowano 2.04.2003) and an illegible signature. The envelope bears signs of having been opened after being sealed: its right side had been cut open and then resealed with sellotape.
21.  On 14 July 2003 the applicant sent a letter to the Court. The envelope in which the letter was delivered to the Registry bears the following stamp: censored (ocenzurowano) and a handwritten note Lublin A[ppellate] P[rosecutor] ... (P. A. Lublin). The envelope bears signs of having been opened after being sealed: its top side had been cut open and then resealed with sellotape.
22.  On 15 September 2003 the applicant sent to the Court another letter with some documents. On the top of the first page of the applicant’s letter, which was delivered to the Registry on 2 October 2003, there is the following stamp: censored (cenzurowano).
23.  On 12 February 2004 the Registry sent to the applicant a letter in which he was asked to provide certain additional documents concerning his case. The applicant submitted that the letter had been opened and censored by the authorities. The original of the Registry’s letter, provided by him, bears the stamp: censored (ocenzurowano) - identical to the two described above.